trans_9 | Reunion

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Reunion

Visitation Day came and went and Goliath still had not seen any of his clan in what felt like, and might have been, years. He still had not seen Elisa since she was nearly killed in his sleep, then vanished angry at him. There had been several times like these before, when the gathering of new crew members has been too painful for him to attend, knowing that his clan would come from elsewhere and at other times, and so podpops offered him only one chance at reunion with a loved one.

Disappointment had settled on him again, and he warded it off with productiveness. Elisa's car shone with the evidence of regular care, but the rest of the castle needed maintaining. He would invite more people in to work in the gardens, dispose of more of Xanatos' things - but first, he felt there was more still to gain by researching the Mayan sun amulet that he hoped could give him control over his waking and sleeping. It would be a good idea to contact Lupin again, but at the moment, it it pleased Goliath to conduct his research in solitude.

Deep in his reading in Castle Wyvern's library, he didn't hear footsteps until the door had already been opened behind him.

[EDIT: Subthreads now open for other characters to comment, starting with the Drunken Dragon]

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She let out a low whistle as she examined the description.

"I remember that," she murmured, moving her hand to trace a picture with her finger. She wondered if the amulet that had been hidden in the clock tower had survived the explosion. In the chaos that had followed, there hadn't been time to look. "That's a difficult piece of magic, Goliath."

"A wizard on the crew is assisting me in seeking other avenues."

It was important, but hardly as important as her being back. He laid his hand on her face again, turning her attention away from the book.

"I cannot allow anything like that to happen to you again."

"Can't allow?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow. She understood the sentiment - she even appreciated it, despite her fierce independence - but the world didn't work that way. Although she didn't remember what had happened during her previous visit, it wasn't the first time she'd been injured in the line of duty and it definitely wouldn't be the last.

"We both know that it isn't as simple as that," she said, gently, "Being a cop is dangerous, but it was worth the risk to do the right thing. Life on the ship won't be any different. We'll work together and we'll take care of each other when we can, but that's enough. I don't expect anything else. I don't need anything else."

"I need this."

How could he make her understand, what it had been like to endure a year without his clan? Without her? With only a castle that he once valued more than his life, now only so much empty stone without the people he loves to live in it?

"Elisa, it has been a year, at least. All I have had in that time is the possibility that I might protect my clan by fighting this war. It has not been enough. You are awake again, and I am glad. But if anything should happen to you, I -"

He cuts off, sighing heavily to calm himself.

"Every time I think I have come to a position of security, it has been taken from me."

It is something he cannot say to the rest of the crew, to everyone else who is in the same position - who lives without the knowledge that their loved ones are surely safe, who face battles every day that they might not walk away from. It is something he cannot say to everyone who endures the same situation, but has only lost their whole worlds once.

"If I cannot protect you, I do not know how I can endure it again."

"Goliath ..."

She had put herself into other people's shoes on more than one occasion, but it was impossible to imagine what Goliath had been through - alone, without his family and friends at his side - on the ship. Especially since there was still a lot that she didn't know about Stacy and the war.

"I wish I could tell you that it's going to be all right, but we're fighting a war against a race that can destroy worlds. I don't know what's going to happen." She paused. A few hours ago - from her point of view - they'd been standing together on the roof of the castle. Everything had seemed full of hope. "All I can say that if anyone can protect me, it's you. But that doesn't mean that it's your fault if something happens to me again."

With every word, she reminded him of exactly why he missed her so much - and made him believe that her anger at him at their last meeting was, as he had suspected, the work of the rage virus, and not from her heart.

He still had to ask her what she'd meant. What had upset her.

He still had to ask her what that morning at the castle had meant. What they were, or would have been without his needing to ask, if the Ohm had not interfered.

They could have that conversation later - when that morning was not moments ago from her perspective. He brushed her hair behind her ear one more time, feeling himself growing calm again, giving in to relief at her presence.

Relief he did not trust yet, but relief all the same.

"This ship may make a liar of me. But there is nothing I would not do to always be there for you. No matter where we are. Or when."

He exhaled slowly, calmer than before.

"I am glad to see you again."

His first question wasn't something that Elisa could answer easily. She didn't remember the words or the bitterness with which they'd been spoken.

The second question, however, was even more difficult. She'd meant what she'd said that morning, but, at the same time, they'd barely scratched the surface of what needed to be said. The world was so much bigger and so much more complicated than it had been. Maybe that was a good reason to stop hiding from her feelings.

"And that'd be the ship's fault, not yours."

She relaxed a little when Goliath calmed, then, impulsively, wrapped her arms around him for another hug.

"It's good to see you, too."

They had a lot of serious conversations ahead of them. But just then, it was enough to Goliath just to hold her, and be comforted that he could.

Two of the Manhattan Clan - would they be the Transmigration 9 Clan now? It sounded better than the Stacy Clan - were reunited. Perhaps this time, they would stay that way. Perhaps that also boded well for a reunion with the rest of the clan.

It occurred to Goliath that he was hungry, and so might she be. "Elisa, this ship allows me only six hours awake, but I have most of those hours before me now. I would show you the ship before my next rest, if you would like to see it."

Better that he introduce her quickly, too, to the people he considered trustworthy.

She was rather hungry - she hadn't eaten a proper meal since before she'd fallen off the waterfall - but she'd had so many other things to think about that food had been pushed to the back of her mind.

A tour, however, was exactly what she wanted.

"That would be great. I've seen the observation deck and the weapons locker, but that's it."

She'd headed for the castle as soon as she'd realised that he was on the ship.

"We should visit the Drunken Dragon first."

It was close, and a good social hub.

"I probably owe Kang my thanks again."

"The Drunken Dragon?" she repeated, stepping back out of the hug and giving him a bemused smile. She hadn't been much of a social drinker back in Manhattan - she'd never had the time, before or after meeting the clan - but she understood the importance of a bit of down time and she was certainly eager to meet Goliath's friends. "Sounds like fun. But it might be a while before I can buy a round."

She hadn't heard anything about money yet. Did they even get wages?

"Kang does not charge for drinks. When we barter, it is mostly in favors."

Goliath had never been a heavy drinker for good reasons - it usually took too much to affect him in Scotland, and he hadn't had access in Manhattan. He hadn't minded it then, and didn't mind now - after all, the last time he'd drunk to excess, it went . . .

Well, not badly. Nobody had gotten injured. Everyone had survived the hangover. But Eva had a few embarrassing stories to tell that absolutely no one else in the multiverse otherwise did.

"It's a good meeting-place. There isn't much real food on the ship, but most of the crew gathers there at some point."

He offered her his arm. They could walk through the city streets any day of the year here without causing a commotion. That might not lose its novelty for a long time.

Nobody had mentioned Goliath's alcohol related indiscretions to Elisa yet. She'd be both amused and surprised to hear the story. He wasn't very good at relaxing at the best of times.

"I'm going to miss New York food," she said, thinking wistfully of the cafes and hot dog carts that she'd frequented at home. Maybe she'd even end up missing the awful excuse for coffee that they served at the station.

She hesitated for a moment before taking his arm, but only so she could grin at Goliath and savour the unexpected opportunities presented by life on the ship.

"But I could definitely get used to this," she finished, slipping her arm through his.

"You won't have to miss it."

The Sensoriums would have to come up earlier on their tour than planned.

He smiled at her last comment, his agreement left unspoken as he lead her from the castle.

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Reunion

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